Crippled Black Phoenix
200 Tons Of Bad Luck

Crippled Black Phoenix
200 Tons Of Bad Luck

Crippled Black Phoenix - 200 Tons of Bad Luck

Released:April 28, 2010Invada

If there's anything disappointing about Crippled Black Phoenix's follow-up to their superb 2006 debut, A Love Of Shared Disasters, it's that the U.K. post-rock sorcerers rely too much on the sounds of others. Led by multi-instrumentalist Justin Greaves (ex-Iron Monkey) and Mogwai bassist Dominic Aitchison, CBP aptly describe their melancholy melodies and dolorous exotica as "endtime ballads," but parts of 200 Tons Of Bad Luck owe their existence entirely to Pink Floyd and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The Godspeed similarities are merely aesthetic--long talking samples, bleak ringing notes and a general feeling of permanent sadness--but the Floyd stuff (like "Rise Up And Fight") is egregious. Then again, Floyd kick the shit out of 99 percent of the current post-rock crop, so you can't fault CBP for clinging to Picasso's claim that "Good artists copy; great artists steal."